Therapy with Men and Boys: A Guide for Clinicians
Therapy with Men and Boys: A Guide for Clinicians
Podcast Description
Every mental health provider who works with men and/or boys knows how challenging it can be. Therapy requires our male clients to be vulnerable and admit their need for help. That's pretty terrifying for a lot of men and boys. The good news is that there are clinicians and researchers who have devoted their careers to learning how to overcome these challenges. In this podcast, we will try to fill the gap in your clinical knowledge, with the help of the leading experts in working with boys and men, who will share their wisdom and tools with all of us.About your co-hosts:Dr. Erica Liebman is a clinical psychologist based in Philadelphia who splits her time between her private practice working with individuals and couples, performing assessments of military veterans and working on various projects that further the awareness of issues facing men and boys. She is a board member of the Society for the Psychology of Men & Masculinities, a division of the American Psychological Association. Her two main foci in this realm is advocating for increased education about boys and men in APA psychology programs as well as helping to bridge the divide between men and women through compassion and understanding. Dr. Liebman can be reached via her website www.ericaliebmanpsyd.com Dr. David Shepard is a practicing Los Angeles-based psychologist with over 30 years of experience specializing in working with men, both individually and as the male parter in couple therapy. Dr. Shepard is a member of the Society for Psychology of Men & Masculinities, a division of the American Psychological Association, and a past-president of the division. He is Professor Emeritus in Counseling at California State University, Fullerton, and the author of numerous publications about working with men and making couple therapy work for male partners. He can be reached at [email protected]. His website is drdavidshepard.com
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on mental health challenges faced by boys and men, with episodes like Building Relationships and Uncovering Emotions diving into how to establish a therapeutic alliance and invite men to express their emotions, while also addressing topics like masculinity, vulnerability in therapy, and strategies for encouraging openness.
Therapy with Boys and Men is a podcast for therapists, counselors, and mental health providers working with male clients — tackling men’s mental health, masculinity, the manosphere, and the psychology of boys and men through conversations with leading clinicians and researchers.
Working with men in therapy comes with real challenges: vulnerability and help-seeking don’t come easily for a lot of male clients, and clinicians are often left without the training to understand what’s actually going on for them — from loneliness and isolation to the pull of online manosphere content, from anger and disconnection to changing ideas about masculinity itself. Each episode brings you tools, research, and clinical wisdom from top experts, helping clinicians (and the women who love, parent, and work alongside men) better understand what men and boys are going through in 2026 America.
Your hosts:
Dr. Erica Liebman is a Philadelphia-based clinical psychologist specializing in men’s mental health, couples therapy, and psychological assessments of military veterans. A board member of APA Division 51 (Society for the Psychology of Men & Masculinities), she advocates for better training on boys and men in psychology programs. ericaliebmanpsyd.com
Dr. David Shepard is a Los Angeles-based psychologist with 30+ years of experience treating men individually and in couples therapy. A past president of APA Division 51 and Professor Emeritus in Counseling at Cal State Fullerton, he’s published extensively on working with men and male partners in couple therapy. drdavidshepard.com
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The baby is here. Grandparents crowd the room, nurses check on Mom, and everyone wants to hold the newborn. And Dad? He's standing in the corner with the diaper bag, wondering where he fits.
For many new fathers, the moment they've waited for brings unexpected loneliness. They want a deep bond with their child, but they don't know how to build one. They feel unneeded, and sometimes invisible. About one in ten will develop depression. Many more will struggle with anxiety. Yet with all eyes on mother and baby, almost no one thinks to ask how Dad is doing.
In this episode, Erica and David sit down with psychologist and fathering expert Dr. Daniel Singley, founder of The Center for Men's Excellence in San Diego, to talk about the journey from ”dude to Dad.” Dr. Singley emphasizes that therapists can help new Dads find the connection they're longing for. He explains and demonstrates the essential strategies clinicians should use to help Dads manage their anxiety and reduce or avoid depression. And he makes it clear that clinicians of any orientation can make a real difference.
If you work with expectant or new fathers, Dr. Singley can show you how you can transform their experience.
The Center for Men's Excellence offers Dad-Focused Parenting classes both virtually and in-person in San Diego. For more information, their website is menexcel.com.
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